The objective of the proposed study is to gain information concerning the molecular basis for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. It is proposed to study the possibility that Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, a condition probably associated with aberrations of synaptic physiology, may involve an alteration in the amount or state of phosphorylation of a specific synaptic phosphoprotein known as Protein I. Offspring from rats given alcohol as their only source of liquid during pregnancy, and offspring from control rats, will be studied at various times during fetal and postnatal development. The total amount of Protein I will be measured by radioimmunoassay and by specific enzymological procedures. The proportion of Protein I present in the phosphorylated and in the dephosphorylated form in whole brain in vivo will be compared in the treated and control groups, during development. The concentration of Protein I and its in vivo state of phosphorylation will also be investigated in brain regions containing dopaminergic and noradrenergic nerve terminals in treated and control rats allowed to reach adulthood. Changes in the amount of messenger RNA for Protein I will be investigated in the brains of treated and control offspring during development. Finally, the distribution of Protein I in various regions of the brain will be investigated immunocytochemically in the treated and control rats using both light and electron microscopic techniques.